The Paper Pregnancy

Well, we are busy at work on what is called our paper pregnancy this afternoon. We are getting ready to submit a big chunk of paperwork for our homestudy and a number of documents to be reviewed for our dossier. We are both anxious to get this paperwork done before summer vacation time hits. I gave Sean his birthday presents early (an Ethiopian travel guide, an autobiography of an Ethiopian refugee who grew up in America and graduated from Harvard, an Amharic phrasebook, and some history book about the political system of Ethiopia over the past 100 years). First of all, I don't think we will get any of those phrases down and be able to pronounce them correctly with our Southern accents, but we are going to try. The guidebook has been very humorous. We've learned a lot about the culture and customs (i.e., you are only supposed to eat with your right hand, as in the Muslim culture, the left hand is used for personal hygiene only, at meals, it is customary for your server to feed you the first bite, and that there is an Ethiopian delicacy called kitfo (raw ground beef, minimally heated, not cooked, and covered with seasoned butter) which we do not plan on trying. We will be responsible for arranging our own travel plans and lodging. We've discovered that you can, if you dare, survive on $10 US per day, including meals and lodging. Sean has tremendously enjoyed telling me about the various places we can stay. I'm holding out for the Hilton. The Sheraton (which has a villa that costs $8,000/night) is renowned as the best hotel in all of Africa, but it is out of our price range. We do hope to see what all the hype is about though. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!